You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Register a free account to unlock additional features at BleepingComputer.com

Welcome to BleepingComputer, a free community where people like yourself come together to discuss and learn how to use their computers. Using the site is easy and fun. As a guest, you can browse and view the various discussions in the forums, but can not create a new topic or reply to an existing one unless you are logged in. Other benefits of registering an account are subscribing to topics and forums, creating a blog, and having no ads shown anywhere on the site.

Mac Book Air update.

I have a MacBook Air which I purchased new in 2013 and now in updates Yosemite upgrade is showing. The big question now is do I or don't I do the upgrade and reasons please. I am a bit wary about the latest Apple upgrades with me not being totally Apple literate. The computer is fully up to date otherwise.

It all comes down to whether or not you might use the new features in the OS. The biggest feature is the "continuity", but that only really works if you also have an iPhone or iPad that is running iOS 8. There are others, of course, that is likely the biggest one.

If you do decide you want to upgrade, then if you want to be safe, then clone your drive to another drive just before the upgrade and THEN upgrade. Then, if you have any problems with the upgrade, you can revert to the old OS by cloning back from the cloned drive. This is what I regularly do when I do upgrades (even Mac OS security upgrades).

You use some sort of cloning software to clone the internal "hard drive" (in this case, an SSD) to some sort of external drive. I personally use SuperDuper! for my cloning software, but there are several other options.

For the clone drive, generally with will be an external USB disk drive that is equal or greater to the capacity of the internal drive on your Mac. In theory, it could be a USB flash drive...IF you can find a USB flash drive that is larger than your internal drive (definitely doable if you have a 64 GB SSD in the Air...I believe still possible if you have a 128 GB SSD in the Air).

I have been a Mac user for some time now and I've upgrade my OS to the Beta versions and ran them as my regular operating system. In my opinion once the OS is realsed most (of course not all) of the bugs have been worked out. I am on Yosemite on my MacBook Pro and have no issues with it. If you want to backup before attempting to upgrade get an external, connect it into your mac, and run a full Time Machine Backup. Time Machine backups can be use for a file and image backup.